Click here to view the entire Schedule and explanation on the Tuesday Talk-in pages.
Paul Fletcher from Renew Guernsey was one of our panellists. P&R member Deputy Bob Murray updated on the proposed Wind Farm. Alan Bates (CEO Guernsey Electricity) was also on the panel.
You can view the recoding of the Webinar above
In his book ‘Life after Growth’ author Tim Morgan suggests that there are in fact two economy’s: the one we are most familiar with – the ‘Financial Economy’; but it (he suggests) is and always has been based on the availability and cost of ‘surplus energy’ – the ‘Shadow Economy’. He explains this as: Whenever energy is accessed, some energy is consumed in the extraction process and it is the surplus energy – that is the difference between these amounts – that determines economic output. This critical ratio is measured using a little-known but fundamentally important equation – the energy return on energy invested (EROEI).
By means of comparison, he suggests that the early oil discoveries at the turn of the last century provided a ratio of 100-1 in terms of surplus energy. Now, that is far more likely to be closer to 10:1. In short, we are now in a position in which the cost of producing energy has increased dramatically in relation to the surplus energy it subsequently creates.
Regardless then, of ambitions identified and often referred to as ‘transition’, the ‘Trilemma’ that we face may very well now be: Affordability; Security of Supply and Reliability – in equal measure. With negotiations under way to replace the current French contract for electricity supply and a financial climate of low growth and increasing cost of living – what are our options?
